Repository:
University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Dept. of Special Collections

Santa Barbara, CA 93106

Shelf location: For current information on the location of these
materials, please consult the library's online catalog.

Language:
English.

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

The bulk of the collection was donated by J. Gordon Melton in the
1980s. Melton and others continue to add to the collection.

Restrictions

None.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections,
UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special
Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the
Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of
the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], American Religions Collection, ARC Mss 1, Department of Special Collections, University Libraries,
University of California, Santa Barbara.

Scope and Content

The container list in this guide includes folder level descriptions of materials mainly housed in the American Religions Collection
(ARC) file cabinets. Contents of many, but not all, of the file drawers are listed. Religious groups and families generally
are listed as they appear in J. Gordon Melton's
Encyclopedia of American Religions (5th edition, 1996).

The bulk of the collection is from J. Gordon Melton, with ongoing additions from him and other sources.
This guide will be updated on a periodic basis, as additional materials are processed.

Series Description

Series I: Groups/Families.

Scope and Content Note

Material for individual Groups/Families generally is further organized into the following: General (includes articles, clippings
and other material about the groups, bibliographies, and broad subject files); Organizations/Groups (includes correspondence,
bulletins, newsletters, flyers, and other material, for the most part issued by that group); Serials (includes short runs
or single issues of serials relating to that larger group or family; longer runs of serials are housed separately and are
listed in a single alphabetical listing for all ARC serials - see list at Special Collections service desk; Unsorted (material
presently unidentified but is being filed into one of the three preceding series, as time permits); Oversize (material housed
in flat file boxes and in map cabinet drawers); Audio-visual (most commonly commercially produced cassettes, cds, sound recordings
(lps), and videotapes). The following numbers indicate cabinet and drawer numbers where the files are stored.

Adventists

(7/1;8/1-8/4)

Anglican

(2/2)

Astrology

(15/1-15/4)

Bahai

(26/4)

Baptist

(5/5; 6/1)

Buddhism

(29/30/1)

Christian Science

(10/5)

Communalism

(9/4-9/5; 10/1)

Congregational

(3/3-3/4)

Eastern Orthodox

(3/1)

Episcopal

(1/2)

European Free

(5/4)

Freemasonry

(18/1-18/2)

Fundamentalists

(6/2-6/3)

Gnosticism

(18/1)

Hare Krishna (ISKCON)

(27/3-27/4)

Hinduism

(26/5-29/2)

Holiness

(4/3)

I Am

(21/1-21/3)

Independent

(2/1-2/2)

Islam

(26/3-26/4)

Jainism

(28/5)

Jesus People

(5/3)

Judaism

(26/1-26/2)

Liberals

(8/5; 9/1)

Lutheran

(3/2)

Magick

(22/1-25/5)

Methodism

(4/1-4/2)

Mormon

(9/2-9/3)

New Age

(11/3-14/5; 17/4)

New Groups

(41/1-41/4)

New Thought

(10/2-10/5)

Occult

(18/2-18/4; 19/1-19/4)

Old Catholic Church

(1/2-1/5; 2/3-2/5)

Pentecostal

(4/4-4/5; 5/1-5/3)

Presbyterian

(3/3-3/4)

Roman Catholic

(1/1-1/2)

Rosacrucian

(18/1)

Scientology

(16/1-16/5; 17/5)

Sikhism

(28/5)

Spiritualism

(11/1)

Sufism

(26/3)

Swedenborgian

(11/2)

Theosophy

(20/1-20/2)

UFO (Ufology)

(39/5-40/5)

Unidentified Churches and Religious Groups

(30/2)

Unification Church

(17/1-17/3)

Zoroastrianism

(26/4)

Series II: Secondary Organizations.

Scope and Content Note

Files include materials that do not relate to specific groups or families, but pertain to organizations or other bodies that
have a more general religious interest or ecumenical thrust.

General

(30/3-32/3)

Hebrew/Christian

(33/1-33/2)

Missions

(33/3)

Schools

(33/4)

Virgin Mary

(33/5)

Series III: Subject Files.

Scope and Content Note

Arranged alphabetically, includes materials on various religious topics, but which cut across specific groups or families.